Spot of Blue Amongst the Grey
by FrostShadowStar
Summary: It's been four years since The Takeover and Hirano, Stacy can't help but remember that day when her whole world changed. Unfortuntly for her, thinking of the past just may cost her her life. Takes place in the 2ed Dimension; Pre-Movie; Rating is 4 Later
1. Chapter 1

**DISCAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE CHARACTERS OF THE SECOND DIMENSION. THE STORY LINE YES, THEIR PERSONALITIES MAYBE, BUT THE CHARACTERS ARE FULLY AND 100% UNDER THE OWNERSHIP OF DISNEY.**

_That last golden day had been the last day she'd been truly happy and carefree. The day promised to be perfect. The sky was a clear blue, the sun shined, and the light wind only complemented the gentle warmth of the day. A beautiful young woman of Asian descent with short stylish black hair sat in the grass as she fixed her nine year old's blue hair ribbon._

_The little girl had just taken a few steps to play when she turned and ran into her mother's outstretched hands as the bright blue sky of before became hidden behind thousands of red and black scary robots..._

Hirano, Stacy sighed and opened her eyes. Four years had passed since a dark force had taken the world and numerous lives in its dark grip. Two years in which she'd started to forget her parents voices, one when she began to forget their faces.

Tilting her face upwards, Stacy slumped against the wall. Not for the first time, she wondered what her life would be like if she hadn't met and joined Candace on that day. She'd probably be dead.

"HIRANO!" The sound of her last name caused her to flinch both physically and mentally. She may not have died four years ago in the takeover, but judging on the tone her name was yelled, Stacy didn't hold high hopes for seeing the light of tomorrow...

Gulping, Stacy turned her head towards the direction the yell came from. Marching towards her was a teen girl with long scarlet orange hair wearing a black tank top, bandanna, short skirt, and knee-high boots. Most freighting to Stacy was the fact that the girl was not wearing her signature dark sunglasses. Meaning that her eyes were fully visible. And they did not look happy.

There was no doubt in Stacy's mind. She was going to die today.

A couple of furious steps later and the girl was in front of Stacy glaring at her. It took all of Stacy's willpower and training to maintain eye contact with her commander and not run for her life.

"Hirano," she growled, "Do you know what day it is today?"

"Uhhhh Friday?"

"And what do we do on Fridays?"

Stacy felt the blood drain from her face as realization struck.

"Oh..."

"Oh's right, Hirano. How do I teach new recruits hand to hand combat so they have a chance of survival against Normbots or Doofen-Gaurds if my _partner_ and _second-in-command _doesn't bother to show up?"

Uncomfortable and guilty, Stacy lightly fingered the handles of the twin blades that hung on her side.

"It's just that...it's getting closer to _that_ day, and...it's getting hard to concentrate on the _now_..." She whispered to her commander.

For a few moments, the redhead's expression was unreadable, till at last, it softened a little.

"Fine," she sighed, "Stacy, take the day off, but you better be focused tomorrow. And not one word about this, if the troops hear I let you off, they'll think I'm going soft."

"Thanks, Candace"

Her friend just snorted and rolled her eyes. "Whatever, Hirano."

Stacy smiled back. It didn't happen often, but it was nice to see Candace loosen up a little. Even if she wasn't smiling outright, her blue eyes betrayed her amusement. It was true, what her mother had told her; one's eyes were the gateway to the soul. And Candace's eyes always betrayed her feelings, no matter how fearsome her scowl.

As if hearing her friend's thoughts, Candace pulled out her signature shades from a pocket in her belt and put them on. "Not one word Hirano." she growled before marching down another hallway to doubtlessly terrify her troops.

Stacy continued to smile as she in turn began to head towards her quarters. After a couple of minutes of walking, Stacy paused before suddenly dropping to her knees to avoid getting hit by a combination of wood and technology. The weapon, nun-chucks, continued past her head before pausing mid-air and zooming back to where it came.

Twisting her body so that she was in a crouch and facing her opponent, Stacy glared at her attacker.

"A clumsy throw? That's a bit below the skills of a 'ninja' wouldn't you say?"

Her opponent, a blonde boy about a year older than her, shurgged, grinning like an idiot.

"Well what else was I suppose to do as soon as you detected my presence? The last time I tried tackling, I was nearly shish-ka-bobbed!"

Stacy smirked. "A ninja should know better than to attack directly. Isn't that what you preach to your apprentices?"

He shrugged. Stacy wished he'd stop doing that. It was hard enough not to take him seriously in his modified 'ninja' resistance uniform (dark grey pants, light grey long sleeve tee, and black vest), but every time he shrugged, his spiky, semi-poofy blonde hair seemed to bounce.

He was such a dork.

Swiftly, Stacy leaped, pulling out her twin blades. Most people would have passed out, or at the very least, get out of the way.

Not him. He just smirked and held out his nun-chucks, catching her blades in the chain. Just inches from his face.

"Now who's being direct Stace?"

With practiced ease, he raised the tangled weapons above him before gripping one nun-chuck and threw it and the swords (Stacy included) away from him.

Airborne, Stacy shook his weapon off of hers and twisting her body so that she landed on her feet.

Almost instantly, she felt the metal of his nunchuck's against her neck. "Give up?" she heard him whisper in her ear.

Damm he was fast. Curse his ninja speed and calculating brain to be exactly where she'd land.

Stacy closed her eyes and let herself slump. Just as she expected, the metal slacked. He'd let his guard down. Grinning, Stacy raised her leg and kicked his body away from hers. He'd barely hit the floor when she spun on her heel and placed her swords cross-wise on his neck.

He looked up at her, and smiled. "All right, Stace. Guess my ninja skills are no match for a samurai. Uncle."

Stacy smirked as she withdrew her swords and placed them back in their sheath before offering her hand to him.

"For the last time Albert, I'm not a samurai."

"So are you saying I'm a ninja?"

"Mmmm, maybe if you didn't lose so often. So why the ambush today?"

"You seemed down..."

"So you figured a fight would cheer me up? Typical."

Albert closed his eyes as he placed his hands behind his head and slowly lowered himself into a sitting position against the wall. Stacy stared at him before rolling her eyes and joining him.

"You didn't let me finish." He sighed. "I...understand what's going on in your head at the moment. Better than our brilliant leader." he snorted.

Stacy sighed. "You know, Candace does understand, I mean she did lose family that day like I did, you-"

"I know I know, was at camp and missed the big takeover. But, my life changed, your life changed, Heck, a lot of people's lives changed but Candace..."

Albert opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling. Stacy sighed. She didn't blame him. A lot of people had difficulty understanding Candace, that is if they had the courage to attempt to do so. Only a few people knew what drove her to create the resistance and continue fighting.

Albert and Stacy were both part of that small group.

"She's one of my best friends, and I trust her. She understands..."

Albert snorted again, but Stacy pretended she didn't hear him.

"...I really don't want to get into this Albert."

This time, she didn't look at him, but she could feel him looking at her.

"Fine. Just let me know the next time you plan on missing training. That way I can cover for you or take you place in demonstrations."

Stacy glanced at him and gave him a small smile. "Thanks Albert. You should probably get going. Don't want your mother to wonder where you disappeared off to."

Albert rolled his eyes before slowly standing up and stretching. "Doubt she'd notice. She's probably trying to find something salvageable to eat. Betcha it's a rat."

Stacy's smile widened. "Then get going, if your mom's not there, Irving must be terribly bored."

"Yeah...Well see ya at school Stace."

"Back at 'cha."

Stacy waited a few moments after he left before continuing on to her quarters. It wasn't much, but at least it was better than living in the streets.

A/N: If the characters seem out of character to you, well, it's because this is the second dimension so, they've had to experience things their first dimension counterparts would consider nightmare material. I hope I did a good job on Candace-2 (she scares me...) and the fight scène. Reviews are much appreciated. Till next time, Frost is out PEACE!


	2. Chapter 2

**DISCAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE CHARACTERS OF THE SECOND DIMENSION. THE STORY LINE YES, THEIR PERSONALITIES MAYBE, BUT THE CHARACTERS ARE FULLY AND 100% UNDER THE OWNERSHIP OF DISNEY.**

_The sky, once so cheerful, was now swallowed by big scary robots. The few people in the park panicked and began running in all directions. One woman, eyes wide, stared at the scene before her. Only the muffled cries of her nine year old daughter jolted her out of her shock._

_Quickly, she grabbed her daughter's hand and began running. She could hear her daughter stumble, but she didn't stop, they couldn't. The world seemed to be ending, and the only place she could think of going, was home. Hopefully her husband would be there and then all three could escape together, hopefully to a place where chaos wouldn't follow._

_Suddenly, behind, a red light blared and a startled shriek hit her ears. A sudden tug on her arm caused her to stop and look behind her at her baby. _

_Her daughter stood frozen in shock as one hand ran through her black hair, suddenly, half the length it had been when they set off this morning to enjoy a pleasant day at the park._

_Mother embraced daughter as around them more lasers fired and people screamed in horror and pain. Without another thought, Mrs. Hirano picked up her now numb daughter, and resumed their frantic flight through fire hoping to reach the sanctuary of home._

Around 4:00 Hours, Hirano, Stacy stood in front of a mirror. She was, at the moment finishing tying her blue ribbon into a bow on the side of her head. At the same time, she was examining herself in the mirror.

Her black hair was short (about shoulder-length). Her normal resistance uniform (a short black dress with matching ankle black boots) was replaced by the required TriDoof-State-Area female citizen uniform (grey dress that went down to the knees and was over a white tee and flat, uncomfortable black shoes).

Strictly speaking, she really wasn't supposed to have a ribbon in her hair, but, honestly, Stacy had no idea how'd she'd manage to get through her day without at least a _little_ color other than black or grey. If she had her way, she'd be dressed entirely in blue. Sadly, she hadn't seen a spot of blue clothing (or any other color for that matter) since she was nine.

Sighing, Stacy turned away from the mirror and walked over to her cot to grab her grey book bag. Time to leave the 'wonderful' life of living underground in the Resistance's base and join the 'fabulous' enslaved world above for school.

At least up there, she could enjoy the few colors that were not related to black or grey that were allowed.

Plus, there were her friends to look forward to.

Putting up a smile, Stacy briskly walked down various hallways till she reached what she was looking for.

A dark hallway with dim lighting. Strictly off limits to most of the resistance. The only ones allowed access was herself and Candace.

Taking a small breath, Stacy looked both directions to check the coast was clear before swiftly running down the dark hallway, knowing which turns to take, what traps to dodge, and other hidden obstacles to deter the unwary to avoid simply because she had taken this route countless times for the past four years.

At last, her target was in sight. Bunching her muscles, Stacy jumped and used the momentum to carry her across the deep pit separating the passage to the resistance and the gleaming metal ladder that would take her above ground.

As soon as her feet touched ground, Stacy ran the last few steps to the ladder and scrambled up it. At the top, she paused for a moment to catch her breath, before lightly tapping the metal circle above her. One minute later, she heard the slow, yet steady sound of metal shifting against stone and felt cool air rush against her skin.

When the circle was completely removed, Stacy waited another second before grabbing the offered hand and left the underground behind her.

Outside and above ground, Stacy closed her eyes and welcomed the cold air and bright sunlight. No matter the reason, she would always welcome the chance to experience the fresh air.

"Took you awhile today. Did you oversleep?"

Stacy opened her eyes and glared at her accomplice as he casually leaned against a thin tree.

Like her, Albert had switched his resistance clothing to the standardized Dooferalls for males and adults. But unlike her, he was undistinguishable from yesterday.

His blond hair was gelled down so that it lay flat against his head and resembled a comb-over somewhat; and, more noticeably, over his eyes were a pair of glasses. Anybody looking at him, would never guess that he was part of the resistance. Stacy included.

In fact, she hadn't recognized him the first time he'd been assigned to wait for her to come up the ladder and had nearly decked him. Of course, Albert had dodged _most_ of her hits.

"You aren't still sleeping are you?"

Stacy rolled her eyes. "Are you an annoying know it all?" Albert laughed. "I'll take that as a yes, you were sleeping with your eyes open. Betcha I can beat ya to school. Last one to their seat's a goozim"

Still laughing, Albert rushed past her, grin growing even wider at her red face as she realized that her insult had backfired.

**.**

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It was a close race, but Albert was the winner. Stacy couldn't decide if it was because nerds/ninja were just naturally fast or if it was because he'd had an early start. More than likely it was the latter.

Looking up at the clock in the center of the grey school building, Stacy sighed. Even with all the running and leaping of this morning, they were still barely on time. Not that it really mattered to her.

Between resistance work, training, and living underground, school didn't really matter. So she didn't bother paying too much attention to class. As long as she 'passed' and wasn't fed to a hungry goozim or shot with a laser from a Normbot, she didn't care what was going on in the classroom.

Candace and Albert however were another story. Tiredly, Stacy let her eyes wander around the room. (Or would it be a cell since they were all stuck there till 17:00 hours?) A flash of scarlet orange caught her eye.

Candace was hunched over her desk, busy scribbling something down. Craning her neck a little, Stacy saw a small flash of Emperor Doofensmirtz's face with a red slash across it. Next to it she saw a bunch x's and o's criss crossing each via red and blue lines.

What the heck was Candace thinking bringing her strategy book to school? Had she lost her mind? Did she want to get herself killed?

Before Stacy could get out of her seat and demand what her best friend and commander was thinking, the classroom door opened and softly closed.

All eyes followed the figure of their teacher as he slowly set his things on his desk. Looking up, his eyes narrowed as he caught sight of Candace, who alone was not looking up.

Stacy saw his hands clench into fists as he marched, military style towards her desk.

"Miss. Flynn, I hope I'm not interrupting your...sketches."

To Stacy's and everyone else's shock, Candace looked up at him and smiled brightly.

"Of course not sir, I was merely finishing writing of his greatness, Emperor Doofensmirtz and how much he has _improved_ our lives. It _was_ the homework you assigned yesterday, _Sir_"

Stacy held her breath. She wasn't sure if he or the rest of the class had heard the slight venom in Candace's tone, but she certainly had. A small glance at Albert told her he heard it too as he was gripping his pencil so tight she was sure it was going to snap.

Judging by the rise of one eyebrow over his glasses, their teacher had heard Candace's thinly veiled threat.

"Then may I collect your paper early, Miss Flynn. Since you _just_ finished it."

"Certainly"

Stacy felt her eyes widen as she watched Candace casually rip a piece of paper out of her notebook and hand it to him. It was official. Candace had lost it. Wasn't it just discovered that teachers were handpicked by Doofensmirtz so that they could relay information to him directly? And that their teacher was actually _head_ of that group?

Near Candace, their teacher stood still, skimming over her paper, a small frown on his lips. At last he lowered it slightly and gave a small smile to Candace. A smile that didn't reach his hard, furious, green eyes.

"Very well written, Miss Flynn. Although next time, I would advise that you get your work done before class begins."

"Of course, Sir. My mistake."

As he marched back to his desk, Stacy slumped a little in her chair. Across from her, she noticed Albert doing the same as he loosened his white knuckles from his pencil. Glancing at Candace, Stacy couldn't help stare at her friend incredusly. She was sitting in her chair, straight and with a barely concealed smirk on her face. In her hands she was pulling out a rather large textbook...and new notebook.

Forcing her attention back at the front desk, Stacy tapped her fingers a little. Whatever Candace did, it was risky. Their teacher noticed everything; rumor had it that just as Platyborg of the might of Doofensmirtz's empire, their teacher was the eyes and ears of it.

All other teachers answered to him. Most students feared him.

No one in their right mind tried to be risky around Carl Karl.

Not if they valued their limbs.

A/N:

*Dances* I am on fire today! Three chapter posts in one day (Two for this and one for Doof's Ramblings)? I think from now on, I shall eat sugary cereal, donuts, cookies, mini-cupcakes, and jellybeans before writing more often...

XD I am so evil. I bet no one reading this expected to see Carl as one of the villains. Then again, neither did I. He just popped into my head as I was trying to think of a teacher that could be scary enough. I couldn't use Rodney or any other member of L.O.V.E.M.U.F.F.E.N., since I figured that Alt. Doof would probably have wiped out any potential competition or threat to his rule. Also, if you think about it, we didn't see an Alt. Carl either in the movie...so either he was dead or joined the dark side. I guess I went for the dark side Carl.

Also, in case anyone was wondering, 17:00 hours is military time for 5:00pm.

Anytoodle, please, leave a comment. More comments = the more motivated I feel to update.


	3. Chapter 3

**DISCAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE CHARACTERS OF THE SECOND DIMENSION. THE STORY LINE YES, THEIR PERSONALITIES MAYBE, BUT THE CHARACTERS ARE FULLY AND 100% UNDER THE OWNERSHIP OF DISNEY.**

_When at last the two reached home, they discovered that the day's horror was far from over. Fire...was everywhere. The trees that she would play under as her parents watched were burning skeletons of their former beauty. Bark and twigs dropping like fiery rain._

_Half the roof was either missing or caved in as even more flames erupted from the building. _

_And still, through all the burning, lasers fired. In one area continuously. Gasping, Mrs. Hirano gently placed her daughter on the sidewalk, hoping she'd be safer on cement than grass as she ran towards the commotion._

_Her daughter stood there for a few moments, swaying a little. Once more, she ran a hand through her newly shortened hair. The memory of how it had happened, of seeing her home nearly destroyed, and then seeing her mother run towards it, doubtlessly to find her husband, seemed to give the little girl strength. Narrowing her eyes and clenching her fists, she followed after her mother. Into the fire._

The rest of the school day had seemed to drag on forever. Well, at least longer than usual.

No matter how many times Stacy sneaked a look at her commander and friend, she would see the same smirk, the same confidence, the same _cheer_ she had first seen when Karl had nearly caught Candace making battle plans.

She hadn't risked glancing at Albert. She wasn't sure if it was because she was scared that if she caught his eye, he'd take it as a cue to jump out of his seat and demand/knock some sense into Candace or that she would just catch him playing the good student card and quietly doing his schoolwork.

With Albert, either possibility could happen.

At long last, the final 'bell' rang. (The 'bell' being more of recorded goozim's roar.) As the students stood and began filing out of the classroom, Stacy noticed Albert (seemingly) carelessly slide out of his designated line so that he was closer to Stacy.

Was today 'Be-an-Idiot-and-Try-Not-to-be-Killed' day or something? Cuz if this was some kind of weird joke day, someone seemed to have neglected giving her a memo.

"Albert!" she hissed under her breath "What the heck do you think you're doing?"

His response was a simple shrug and a look of utter confused innocence.

Honestly, if Stacy didn't know any better, she'd think he had a death wish...Then again, he just might. It was only under her hardest glare that his smile faltered before he looked away and sighed.

"Look Stace, as Candace has so obviously lost it, I'm checking to make sure you haven't gone loco as well."

Stacy stared at her friend dumbfounded.

"What? For all I know, Candace just finally cracked under pressure and as her second-in-command, you're liable for the same fate!"

Stacy rolled her eyes. "Albert" she groaned, but unfortunately that was all she got to say before she continued her thought, she noticed Karl was pushing past students towards them.

"Look alive, seems we're about to have a confrontation." she whispered under her breath. Albert nodded as he swiftly left her side to rejoin another line. A couple of moments later,

Stacy saw out of the corner of her eye, Karl place a hand on Albert and pull him back into the classroom.

Couple of steps later, and the line she was in exited the classroom. Skillfully, she waltzed out from it and made her way towards a wall close to the classroom and waited.

Debating with herself whether she should charge in and pound Karl out of commission, or just play it by ear.

Just as she was coming to a decision, Albert walked out of the classroom...and right past her.

Was he blind?

Annoyed, Stacy ran after him and past him so that she could block his way.

"What was that all about?"

"...He asked me if I ever considered being a teacher."

Stacy stared at him like he'd suddenly grow another head."W-What did you say?"

"Weeeell, I told him to go jump into a goozim pit, preferably one surrounded and/or filled with lava. That I would rather die than brain-wash children on the glory of Doofen-Slave-Driver-Smirtz, and that he should really consider suing his tailor and possibly his barber, cuz to be quite frank, it wasn't too much of doubt why one would guess he'd never have a date or why girls scream and run at the sight of him."

Stacy stared at him, open-mouthed before viciously hitting him with her book bag.

"What the hell is wrong with you? First you tell me that you're making sure I don't do anything crazy like Candace, and then you leave my side for about two minutes and insult KARL? DOOFENSMIRTZ'S HEAD INTELLEGINCE! ARE YOU FUCKING INSANE?"

Just as Stacy was about to hit his head again, Albert ducked as he burst out laughing.

"Man Stace, you should really see yourself right now...it's...it's...HILARIOUS!"

Stacy paused and stared at him. He really had lost it. Wonderful. First Candace, now Albert? What next? Karl suddenly telling the class to stand together and take down Doofensmirtz? The only plausible explanation was that something was in this morning's food.

The steady decline of Albert's laughs, brought her mind back to the present, which meant she was still mad at him, so she smacked him again.

"And what exactly is so funny Albert? You just told _Karl_ to-"

"Yeah, I know what I said. What I find amusing is that you totally fell for it. I mean, seriously, do you really think I'd have said all that to him?"

Honestly? Yes, yes she did. But, she kept that thought to herself.

"...So, uh, what _did_ you tell him?"

"That I was too much of an idiot to be a good teacher, and that my good grades were just probably dumb luck. And the pet goldfish gave me the answers."

"But..we...don't..have a goldfish."

Albert's smile got even bigger. "I know, that's what he said. Though not as cutely."

Stacy began to frown when suddenly, her mind caught up with the last word Albert had said.

"What do you mean by-" but before she could finish, a small beeping sounded in her ear. Judging by Albert's now serious expression, he heard it too.

"Well Stace, seems like we'll have to cut short our little conversation. It appears that Candace is calling a meeting."

Stacy rolled her eyes as she began to run towards the hidden entrance she came up through this morning. Couldn't she have waited a little bit longer?

"...You know Stacy, there's an entrance a lot closer than the one you normally come out of...right?"

Stacy stopped running, as she marched stiffly back towards Albert.

"Of course I do. I was just...testing you. Congrats, you passed."

"Sure ya did Stace, sure ya did."

Her response was an irrated growl. Whatever Candace was calling them for, it better have a good reason.

A/N:

So another chapter done, and to be honest, I'm really enjoying writing this, especially Albert. He's so much fun, especially when he's teasing Stacy. :)

Now to answer some questions.

1) About the whole 'bunching muscles' thing, I had been reading the newest book in the Warriors franchise, which is about cats, and for which I'm in the process of writing fanfics/comics for...so yeeeaaaah...

2) Albert liking Stacy...well I'll leave that up to you. I know the answer of course, I KNOW EVERYTHING! But, I won't say anything. I believe in not giving out spoilers, though I uh do that to my sister from time to time...sorry Moony.

3) Yes, Carl's eyes are green. I believe they showed it in the movie when his glasses came off...and as to why I know that, it's because I believe in doing my research and not that I'm a stalker...cuz one can't stalk cartoons right? O-e'


	4. Chapter 4

**DISCAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE CHARACTERS OF THE SECOND DIMENSION. THE STORY LINE YES, THEIR PERSONALITIES MAYBE, BUT THE CHARACTERS ARE FULLY AND 100% UNDER THE OWNERSHIP OF DISNEY.**

_Whatever she had been expecting when she chased after her mother, it was not this. It was like...her parents had been replaced...by scary, cool, yet totally different people. There had to be at least ten robots firing lasers at them, but...they kept missing, while her parents fought back. Her mother was using a fire poker like a fencing sword to deflect blows while at the same time, was forced into a deadly dance for survival. One step wrong, and she would be succumbing to the intense heat of a laser._

_Meanwhile, her father was using two swords to slice the robots and deflect the lasers he couldn't dodge. The girl backed up and turned to hide to behind what remained of the hallway wall and hide her face in her hands. She recognized those swords, she had seen them hanging above the fireplace night after night. Her father had told her that his father had given them to him before he died, as did his father and so on._

_And now, those swords were being used as defense. Her parents were fighters, unstoppable. And she was just a little girl. _

_Slowly, she lifted her face out of her hands a little and spied a brick. It must have been knocked out of the wall when the robots first attacked and now...it just sat there, small and insignificant. _

_She smiled. She had an idea..._

They had been walking for about five minutes, Stacy behind Albert. When they reached a big metallic door, she frowned. She had suspected that something was up when she found herself walking down an unfamiliar path. The metal door confirmed it. She did not know this entrance.

And to be honest, this annoyed her a little.

She was second-in-command of perhaps the largest and longest lasting resistance in the TriDoof-State-Area. She was supposed to know every exit and entrance to headquarters not only for her job but as a necessity. She _lived_ down here, so, why didn't she know this one?

Stacy watched Albert suspiciously as he stopped in front of the door and typed something into a keypad.

"Albert, how do you know about this passageway?"

Silence met her words. "Albert" she growled in her best Candace imitation, making him flinch slightly. He stopped and gave her an irritated look.

"Was that necessary?"

"Yes, yes it was."

He sighed before resuming his pace, Stacy close at his heels. "I know this passageway...because I built it."

At those words, Stacy stumbled a little and stared at him. He built this? When? If he wasn't on a mission or training for the resistance he was at school or salvaging the streets for things to sell for food. When did he ever have time to make a tunnel?

Before Stacy could attempt to barrage him with questions, they were at another door. It seemed smaller than the first, but maybe because it was wooden and a bit shabby. When he opened it, there was a creak.

Just as she was about to fallow him, he spun around quickly and pushed her back a little.

"You'll have to give me a minute okay? This place is a bit dirty, and well, not quite up to military standards. So, uh, just wait out here for a minute, kay? Thanks."

And then he closed the door. In her face. She would have opened the door and reminded him they were on a tight schedule, but she had heard a lock click.

So she did the only thing she could do: lean against the wall facing the door and lament over the fact that she couldn't bring her swords to school. Because right now, she wished she had them to break down the stupid door.

After a couple of minutes had passed, the door opened again and Albert was grinning brightly at her. The first thing she noticed was that his hair was poofy again and that he wasn't wearing his glasses. The second thing she noticed was that he was dressed in his resistance clothing.

"Told you it'd only be a minute. Now let's get going, don't want to be too terribly late."

Stacy raised an eyebrow. "You also said that you were tidying up the room."

"And so I did. Now come on, the door's not going to turn into a Normbot or something."

Stacy smiled a little as she walked after him. As she went past the door, she gave the room a quick glance. It had a small sink, and in it lay a towel. On the floor was a pile of clothing. For some reason, Stacy felt her face warm a little at the sight of the clothes.

Pushing the feelings and thoughts rising in her mind away, she walked a little faster out of the room.

Once they were both in a main hallway, they ran. Stacy following Albert. She figured that if he built that passage and used it as often she figured he did, then he should know how to get to the main assembly room in the quickest amount of time.

When they finally reached the designated room, Stacy was relieved that they weren't the only ones still filing in.

Looking around, she noticed that the people assembled were mainly young adults and some teenagers. The elite fighters and commanding officers in the area. She also noticed a young girl with long black hair wearing a beret with a small green bow attached to it. She couldn't be older than nine...yet here she was.

Before she could point the kid out to Albert, her attention (and everyone else's) was drawn towards the small platform in the back of the room as Candace walked up it. Following behind her was a small boy with light brown skin wearing a tanish lab coat with gadgets in the pockets and hair that could only be described as a triangular afro.

When she reached the center of the platform, Candace turned and faced the crowd. She was wearing her uniform and sunglasses as well.

Then, Candace did something unexpected and semi-frightening. She _smiled_.

"Troops, today, we have placed a blow to Doofensmirtz's power and have taken one step closer towards freedom." She began confidently.

"This morning, I placed a bug on his intelligence Carl Karl. Even as I speak, we are receiving Intel alerting us to his plans and potential weaknesses.

"How did I accomplish this? Simple, I used nanites that Baljeet created and placed them on a paper that I gave directly to Karl."+

In the audience, Stacy blinked.

"Nanites huh? Guess that means she didn't lose her marbles this morning…" she whispered to Albert.

"…Why didn't you ever think of using Nanites?"

"Because unlike that little git up there, I made sure I knew how to fight as well as come up with decent gadgets instead of just focusing on having some weird hairstyle."

Stacy smirked a little before returning her attention back up to Candace. She wouldn't be surprised if Albert was focusing on glaring at Baljeet instead of paying attention, it confused her a little why he cared so much about what the child genius did, after all, Albert had given up the position so Baljeet could have it…then again, it was Albert. He rarely made sense when it came to science-y stuff.

"Based on the data we have collected so far, we have discovered the location of Doofensmirtz's next attack of terror. I am compiling a list of potential soldiers to take. When I have more information on the attack, I will let those chosen know in due time to allow for preparation. Dismissed"

And with those words, the assembled group began to disperse through the various doors as they returned to whatever they had been doing before the summons.

It was during this time, that Stacy saw Albert stiffen a little. Her first instinct was to look up to the platform where Candace and Baljeet had been standing only to see the two of them walking down the stairs.

So what had disturbed him?

Glancing back, she saw to her shock Albert furiously marching towards Candace with a grim expression on his face.

Worried where this might be headed, Stacy hurried after him. Whatever was going through his head could only mean trouble.

It took her a little while, but when she finally caught up to him, Albert had caught up to Candace and was glaring daggers at her.

"What is the meaning of this?"

Albert's eyes narrowed, "To put it in terms for you to understand _Sir_, I saw a young girl in the assembly. An assembly meant for leaders of specific units. Units that usually partipate in life or death situations."

"So? Garcia-Shirpo shows promise and I think she'll make a fine commanding officer for her unit."

Albert closed his eyes as his fists clenched slightly. "She's only nine-years old. The same age as your brothers."

Candace shrugged. "And the same age as your brother if I remember correctly. If you have a problem about age, you could always enroll him in the resistance...besides, if I remember correctly, weren't you the one in charge of training her and the rest of her unit?"

Taking Albert's silence as a confirmation, Candace smirked and continued on her way. Baljeet followed her, tossing a gleeful sneer in Albert's direction as he ran to keep up.

Stacy stood staring at Albert before slowly walking up to him.

"If you trained them, then you shouldn't worry too much...I mean..." her voice trailed off at the tired look on his face. It made him look a lot older than fourteen.

"She's right..." he sighed."I trained them...but I didn't think she'd put them out on the field until they were at least a little older...I-I'm not a hypocrite, am I Stace?"

"A hypo-what?"

Albert gave her a small smile. "Hypocrite. It means someone who says they hate something but do it anyway. For example, I hate the fact that Candace refuses to let her little brothers join because they're too young...and I won't let Irving join...yet I train kids their age..."

"So why don't you let Irving join? It would make you feel less like a hypocrite..."

"Because the idiot would get himself killed. I've tried teaching him a little self-defense, but he's too busy stalking rocks."

Stacy stared at him. "Your brother...stalks...rocks...?"

Albert sighed and looked upwards. "I honestly have no idea why he stalks rocks...or how or why he thinks they can move..."

Giving a small shake of his head, he gave her another smile. "Thanks for listening; I probably sound a tad mental. Anyways, I'm going to go see if I can find Isabella before she goes home. I need to discuss with her something along the lines about her becoming a commander at such a young age..."

And with those words, Albert turned and headed back the way they came. Stacy didn't bother following him. He could be pretty darn fast when he wanted to be. Instead, she headed towards her quarters. She wanted to get out of the regulation civilian shoes as fast as possible; it felt like she was losing circulation in her feet.

A/N: And here's another chapter...this took forever to get out. I blame college, and homework, and and that's about it.

About their ages, I figure (for this story at least) Albert and Candace are both about a year older than Stacy. That or her birthday's really late in the school year. *shrugs*

Also, I'm really hoping that I didn't go on too long, or that the characters are becoming Mary Sues...I read a thing about how to requinze a Mary Sue...and well I feel Stacy has a couple similarities...):

So till next time, enjoy and leave reviews...they sure do motivate a person. :D


	5. Chapter 5

**DISCAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE CHARACTERS OF THE SECOND DIMENSION. THE STORY LINE YES, THEIR PERSONALITIES MAYBE, BUT THE CHARACTERS ARE FULLY AND 100% UNDER THE OWNERSHIP OF DISNEY.**

_The first brick caused the robot to temporary pause. The second brick left a good sized dent in its head; the third one missed by a mile and almost hit one of her parents. The fourth brick succeeded in finally knocking off the robots head. By that time, the other robots in the room had become aware of the flying bricks. Simutausly, they swiveled their heads to locate where the new threat was coming from…unfortutnly for her, the others robots reactions weren't what she had expected…and had reacted rather quickly. So she hadn't had time to dive back behind her wall…and the worst thing? She didn't have any more loose bricks in close vicinity to her. And about four of them were zooming her way…_

A few days after the meeting, Stacy was checking to make sure her hand wasn't broken. Albert's grip had been unusually tight this morning when he helped her out of her entrance/exit.

Once more, she shot him a glance. He was furiously scribbling notes down like he always did…but his hand seemed more jerky than usual…and his face appeared neutral, but the tightness of his mouth and the fury in his eyes told otherwise. For the life of her, Stacy couldn't figure what his problem was.

Sighing, she dragged her gaze away from him and stared at the clock. One more hour till school let out. One more hour till she could corner him and make him tell her what his deal was…

When at last the bell rang, only her training kept her from leaping out of her seat and running to the door so she could get to the door before him and pounce on him as he walked past. Instead, she semi-calmly walked past the door with the rest of her line.

However, she stopped at waited beside the door so she could pounce on him; that part of her plan didn't change.

When Albert at last came to the door, Stacy grabbed his arm and dragged him out of the school and to a more private location.

"What is your problem? You've been glaring at about everything and haven't said a word pretty much all day!"

Albert shot her a dark glare. "Like you wouldn't know…_sir_"

Stacy felt like she'd just been hit by a DoofTrain. Albert never addressed her by 'sir'. Only Candace…or…or…someone working for Doofensmirtz like Karl.

"What are you talking about? And what's with the whole 'sir' thing all of sudden?"

Albert continued to glare at her before sighing and rolling his eyes.

"You overslept today, didn't you."

Stacy blinked. Albert seemed to have lost his hostility towards her, and while the statement was certainly true, he wasn't gloating like he usually did. He seemed…exasperated.

"Maybe this will jolt your memory."

He then proceeded to hand her a piece of paper. It was badly crumbled, and the ink was a bit smeared, but she could still read it.

**THE FOLLOWING ARE REQUIRED TO ATTEND AN OPERATIONAL MEETING AT 18:00 HOURS TODAY:**

**UNIT 13264**

**UNIT 8765**

**UNIT 2719**

**HIRANO AND MYSELF WILL LEAD THIS MISSION.**

**NO QUESTIONS OR REQUESTS REGARDING THIS MISSION PERMITTED**

**MY DECISION IS FINAL**

**C.F.**

Stacy looked up at Albert after reading the statement a couple of times. "I don't see why this has you all bent out of shape."

Albert's scowl had returned. "I'm 'bent out of shape' because the first unit listed on these things is usually the scouting unit during the mission…"

Stacy frowned. The scouts were usually in the most danger during missions because it was their job to discover potential traps and figure out what other obstacles lay in the way of the waiting units. Albert knew this. He himself had partipated in similar runs or had waited while the scouts did their work. In both instances he hadn't complained or thrown a fit. So why the big reaction now?

"…Unit 13264 is made up of nine year olds who've never done field work in their lives" he growled as he took the paper back.

Stacy's eyes widened. What the hell was Candace thinking? Was she overestimating the girls' ability because of who trained them…or was it a more personal thing?

Mentally, Stacy shook her head. Candace may be driven to extreme measures in their fight against Doofensmirtz at times…but she wasn't vengeful…right?

"Albert, trust me, I didn't have any part of the final planning of this. Least of all who would be the scout unit."

Albert closed his eyes. "I believe you Stace…but I have a few choice words to say to Candace, that's for sure."

His eyes snapped open and Stacy was shocked at the fierce anger she saw in them. "So, not to just chat and run, but there's a certain redhead that I need to talk to."

And with those words, he bolted. Leaving Stacy to stand there and thinking to herself that she really needed to work on remembering on all the different units and who was in them.

It was nearly 22:00 hours and it was a bit chilly tonight, but Stacy wasn't thinking too much on waiting for a signal or code word that would alert her and Candace and the two units they were leading to move in.

She was still marveling on the fact of what Albert had _done_. Somehow, he had managed to convince Candace to allow him to lead Unit 13264 instead of Garcia-Shirpo. The only plausible explanation Stacy could come up with was that Albert had somehow threated Candace and managed not to get clobbered, or he used logic. For all she knew, he had done a combination of both.

Shifting her position a little so that her limbs still had circulation, Stacy stared at the building that they were all watching.

It was worn down, and about half of it was missing. The roof was caving inwards in some places and in others it seemed almost as new as the day the building was built. Plant life was thick around the walls, as if nature was reclaiming that bit of earth in a world ruled by one man. The whole place looked like it could cave in at any moment. So why was Candace so intent on this?

It couldn't be because of what this building used to be, could it? Surely Doofensmirtz had taken every bit of data that existed here. Or at the very least Karl, there were the rumors that he worked in this place once. Stacy couldn't even guess how it could be any use today, run down as it was.

Just as she was about to ask Candace what the point of this mission was again, she heard a faint crackling of static in her ear.

"Sir, we've found your platypus. He seems to be giving directions to-GET BACK HERE! Assistance Required; Repeat; Assistance Required; Sending you my coordinates…"

The transmission ended. Stacy shot a troubled look towards Candace. The redhead was frowning as she watched the coordinates transmitting on a handheld device that Baljeet had rigged up about a month ago.

"Fantastic, not only do we have to deal with Platyborg, but it seems like Albert's messed up on his assignment" she heard her mutter under her breath before raising her voice to address the two groups behind them. Stacy half-heard her. By the sounds of the little they heard on their ear pieces, Albert had been doing well…up till someone did something rash.

"Do you understand the orders?"

Stacy and the other solders nodded. They were to split into two groups, five behind Candace, and five behind Stacy and treat this as a rescue mission since Platyborg seemed to be involved.

As one, the two groups ran across the overgrown grass near the building before diverging into two groups again as soon as the path diverged.

"Remember, No one approach Platyborg, the thing's a walking weapon, any battle with it will undoubtlessy end in a painful death."

Stacy exchanged glances with Candace. Her sunglasses were slightly lower and Stacy could see a small silver of her commander's blue eyes. There was a fierce determination in them, as well as some anger as well as a hint of fear. In an instant, the glasses were pushed up so that her eyes were covered again.

Candace looked away as she raised her bo staff, signaling her unit to follow her. In an instant they were running, into the labyrinth of broken corridors that remained of the Failed O.W.C.A. Headquarters.

Stacy took one sword out of its sheath and raised it signaling to the five behind her to follow her. In the other hand, she kept her eyes on Albert's flashing coordinates, telling her which way to go.

For a while, everything was clear save for a few overly large plants. Then, they rounded a corner…and found themselves face to face with an army of Normbots.

A/N: Hmmmmmm I'm not too happy with this particular chapter…but this is sorta of the way it popped into my head so oh well. I figure that after the whole takeover thing, Candace might have put two and two together regarding the disappearance of the family pet and Doofensmirtz's main power. After all, how many platypus reside in Danville (the mass amounts of platypus in in 'Perry Come Home' don't count, I think that was just a rule of funny moment thing). Also, I made the Fireside Girls number backwards for the Firestorm Girls unit number. Virtual cookies to you if you caught that while reading. If you didn't that's okay you get a virtual muffin. Anyway, till next time, over and out


	6. Chapter 6

**DISCAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE CHARACTERS OF THE SECOND DIMENSION. THE STORY LINE YES, THEIR PERSONALITIES MAYBE, BUT THE CHARACTERS ARE FULLY AND 100% UNDER THE OWNERSHIP OF DISNEY.**

_From the moment he had gotten home, it had been a constant battle. He didn't know how many robots he had destroyed they just kept coming. After he had ducked a laser to roll underneath a robot and cut off its head, he couldn't help wondering if these robots were just keeping him (and later) his wife in their house to burn to death. How on earth had this happened? It was almost like something from a movie, something that couldn't- shouldn't happen in real life…Then; as suddenly as the robots had come, they began to retreat. It confused him, he had known deep down that he was fighting a losing fight, yet the battle couldn't have ended this easily. So why…? His eyes widened as he caught a glimpse of what the majority of the robots were heading towards. No longer caring about his own survival, he ran towards the cluster of metal, swords gripped tightly in his hands. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his wife plunge the fire poker deep into a robot, and retreating from it as it began to burst into flame. The look on her face told him she had seen what he'd seen. They had been doing a good job in fighting off robots, together they could save their daughter and maybe all three of them could escape the place they'd called home ever since they could remember. A sudden blast of heat near his shoulder scrambled his thoughts. Squinting his eyes in pain, he glanced at his wife…and saw that another robot was blocking her way…and this time she had no weapons and nothing close by to use to defend herself. The most she could do was dodge. With no thought of himself, he changed direction and raised both swords, pain temporary forgotten. Adrenaline pumping, he jumped and managed to land close by the robot and swiftly cut off its head. For a moment everything was still…and muffled. Almost through a haze, he looked at his wife and saw to his surprise tears streaming down her face. He made to move towards her, but couldn't. Confused, he looked down to see if he'd landed wrong and found to his shock that he was bleeding. Heavily. The blast must have done more than he first thought…He looked up and faced her again. It was getting harder and harder to focus on her face and though he wasn't aware of doing so, he had slumped to his knees. As more and more of his world turned black, he felt no pain. Nor did he feel trembling lips and heavy tears touch his head or her hands touch his one last time…_

Stacy stared at the Normbots; they *seemed to* stare back. Years of fighting them had taught her a few things; it was thirty percent training, twenty percent luck, ten percent experience and forty percent of doing whatever Candace would do in the same situation.

So, with those things in mind, Stacy raised her swords slightly and charged. The five soldiers behind her followed suit with the various weapons that Baljeet (and Albert before him) had created.

Ducking, jumping, swerving directions, and even raising her swords in some cases, Stacy alone voluntary fought the Normbots head to head. It was one of the reasons she was second in command. Candace, Albert, and herself were pretty much the only ones in the resistance whose weapons worked best in short range fights. Everyone else used blasters.

As she barrel-rolled to avoid yet another laser she couldn't help thinking about asking Baljeet for a blaster the next time she saw him…it would definitely help the next time she ran into a large group of Normbots. With just one shot-BOOM-two or three Normbots would be out of the picture at a time instead of her using up her energy to take them down one at a time.

It would definitely save her some time.

When she stood up again, she found to her dismay that when she'd barrel-rolled to dodge that last laser, she ended up in the center of at least five Normbots. Who were all raising an arm to fire lasers at her.

On the upside, they had just made things a bit easier for her.

At the last second before the lasers fired, Stacy ducked, causing four Normbots to take each other out with their lasers. The fifth one was a little trickier.

Seemingly having learned from the other four's mistakes, the Normbot didn't fire any more lasers. Instead, it focused on crushing her with one of its large arms.

Once more, Stacy found herself performing a rather grim dance. Dodge or die. Then again, she wasn't completely on the defensive, every time the Normbot's arm came in range, she'd slice off a good chunk of it with one or both of her swords.

After a couple of minutes of this, the attacking Normbot had lost both its arms and was having a hard time balancing itself. Smirking, Stacy thrust one of her swords through the robot's CPO, effectively decommissioning it without all the fireworks that a blaster normally caused.

What was she thinking earlier? She didn't need a blaster, not when she had two very good swords and a training tunnel that kept her pretty darn limber.

Pushing some loose hair out of her eyes, Stacy was relieved to see that the rest of the unit had dealt with their share of Normbots pretty well. While she saw plenty of defeated Normbots lying on the ground, she didn't see anyone lying on the ground bleeding their brains out. All five soldiers were still standing and finishing off the last few remaining robots.

A couple of minutes later and the threat had passed. No robots remained. Placing her swords in their sheath, she waited a second to allow her heartbeat to slow before addressing them.

"Alright troops," the words felt odd on her lips, she rarely addressed the rest of the resistance, it was more of Candace's thing. Judging by the couple of raised eyebrows as her unit stepped closer to her, they were thinking along the same lines.

"You did a great job in defeating the Normbots, but as you know, we uh, didn't come here to...train. So without any delay, let's get back to our mission!"

Instead of rousing cheers, she received blank stares.

"Look," she sighed, "I know; that wasn't the most rousing of speeches; I'm not Candace...but what we're doing is important and our experience is needed, so come on."

As she looked at the small device that told her Albert's coordinates, Stacy caught a few smiles and a couple of nods. Maybe she could pull off last minute speeches after all.

**.**

**.**

**.**

**.**

**.**

**.**

Stacy wasn't sure how long they'd been running. Thankfully they hadn't encountered any more Normbots, but still, it seemed odd. Shouldn't there be more between them and Platyborg than a few Normbots?

Stacy lost her train of thought as she crashed in something small...and warm? Blinking her eyes a little, she was surprised to see that the thing she had crashed into was a little girl. She was dressed similarly to Garcia-Shirpo and had short brown hair and long wavy bangs on one side. Behind her were four other girls in similar outfits.

This must be Unit 13264…So if they were here, where was Albert?

She must have been frowning, because the girl quickly scrambled to her feet and placed a hand to her forehead in a salute.

"Sweetwater, Adyson, of Unit 13264. Sir."

Stacy raised an eyebrow as she crossed her arms and stared at the girls. Their clothes had a couple of scorch marks and tears, but those could be repaired.

"Care to tell me what happened? Or why you five are here and Albert isn't?"

Adyson slowly lowered her hand and stared wide-eyed at Stacy.

"T-The mission was going as planned, but then Albert spotted Platyborg. I believe he was contacting you when Isabella and her best friend decided to attack. I-I don't know what happened next, it happened so fast, we were going to help them, but Albert told us to go…I've never seen him so angry…"

Adyson's voice trailed away as she looked away from her. Stacy ground her teeth as she closed her eyes. She wasn't sure what Albert was thinking if he was still fighting Platyborg, but if that walking armory hadn't killed him yet, she sure as hell was going to.

"Miss. Isabella, would you please step forward."

No feet came shuffling towards her. Opening her eyes, Stacy saw the rest of the girls shifting their feet uncomfortably.

"Sir," came Adyson's trembling voice, "Neither she or her friend are with us…w-we think they stayed back to help."

Stacy clenched her fists a little, out of all the missions she'd been on, why did this one have to go wrong? Especially since she wasn't even sure what they were doing here in the first place. Perhaps the next time Candace wanted to call a leader meeting, it'd be wise not to let her mind stray from Candace's long monologues…

"Johnson and Stone! You two will stay out here with them. If things start going sour, lead Unit 13264 outta here and head back to base. The rest of you follow me."

Glancing down at the hand-held device displaying Albert's coordinates, she saw that the numbers were flashing wildly. They weren't far now.

A/N: Today's prologue is rather grim…then again this story is categorized as a tragedy so…guess you (and myself) will have to wait until next time to find out what happens there. On the upside, it won't be anything gory. I don't like gore; that's why I don't read grimdark…among other reasons…And that I'm not all that great in writing fight scenes, they're kind of boring to write: slash, hack, dodge, repeat. T~T but fight scenes are necessary in tales like this. Sigh…maybe I should watch more shows and movies with lots of fight scenes…nah. I think I'll keep with what I got, which is badly written fight scenes.


	7. Chapter 7

**DISCAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE CHARACTERS OF THE SECOND DIMENSION. THE STORY LINE YES, THEIR PERSONALITIES MAYBE, BUT THE CHARACTERS ARE FULLY AND 100% UNDER THE OWNERSHIP OF DISNEY.**

_She hadn't expected the robots to seem so big...the red T's on their heads seemed to get brighter and more focused on her the closer they got. Falling backwards, the girl looked to see what she had tripped on and was relieved to see a brick. Grabbing it, she threw it at one of the robots with all her might, hope turning into dismay as the robot blasted it into nothing with a laser. If that laser was powerful enough to reduce a chunk of stone into nothingness, what hopes did she have of surviving?_

_Suddenly the robot fell to the ground in two pieces. The other robots swiveled their heads and seemed to stare at their fallen companion before rapidly firing at something. Whatever it was, their lasers weren't hitting as more and more of them fell. Slowly standing up, the girl saw to her joy and amazement her mother fighting the last the robot. When it too fell to the ground at her feet, she faced her daughter with a tired yet happy smile. Like the kind of smile she had whenever she came home from work. _

_As Mrs. Hirano slowly made her way to her daughter, she heard what sounded like a broken whirling sound. Turning her head slightly, she saw to her horror a good number of what she had thought defeated robots dragging themselves her way. Most of them were halves of the robots she had just defeated moments ago. They weren't flying, but rather dragging their damaged bodies towards her with their one remaining arm. As each half came in contact with another robotic piece they seemed to merge together into a bigger monstrosity._

_The little girl's eyes were wide. What was going on? Her parents had defeated them, right? The robots shouldn't be coming back together, that just wasn't fair. Her mother's startled scream jolted her out of her petrified state. A robotic arm had grabbed her mother's ankle and was dragging her into itself._

_She didn't know how, but she would save her mother, and then they could join her father and somehow escape from the nightmare._

They heard the fight before they saw it. When Stacy and the remaining three members of her unit turned the corner, she felt her heart just about stop.

On the other side of the semi-small room, a girl with short auburn hair and lopsided glasses was lying on the ground. Her face was white as blood ran down her forehead. Crouching beside her was the girl with long black hair from the meeting. Taunt in her hands was a jump rope. The expression on her face creeped Stacy out. It was an expression of murderous rage that just didn't seem like it should fit on a nine year old.

Suddenly, a body flew in front of her vision and slammed into a wall, causing a few bits of dust and mortar to fall onto his head.

He had to be in pain. One of his sleeves was ripped off, the edges scorched, and the exposed skin a blistering red. While that itself was bad, his other sleeve was covered in red.

Looking at the direction he'd just been thrown from, Stacy saw him scowl even harder than he had when he'd first told her about the assigned units going on this mission.

"Isabella! The next time I've got Platydork busy, take Gretchen and get out of here."

"But-"

"NO BUTS! As soon as you two are outta here, I can finish up taking care of the trash and join you and everyone else. Is that understood?"

"But-"

"DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME!"

"…Yes, sir."

A small smile appeared on his face. "DID YOU HEAR WHAT I CALLED YOU?" He yelled in an even louder voice; "CUZ DON'T TELL ME YOU'RE ALREADY STARTING TO BREAK DOWN YOU MUTATED TIN CAN!"

As he got into a fighting position, Albert turned his head towards the doorway Stacy and the others were standing in.

"Don't come in here." His voice had a slight slur in it. "Take Isabella and Gretchen outta here, I'll catch up with you."

In the next instant, Platyborg flew between them and rammed itself into Albert, growling a dark metallic 'gggggrrrrrrr'. Apparently it had heard Albert's insults just fine.

At the door way, Stacy took her swords out of their sheath, glaring darkly at the scene in front of her.

"I want you guys to go in there and get those two girls out of here."

"And what about you sir?"

Stacy smiled a grim smile.

"Me? I'm going to keep Albert from trying to fulfill a stupid promise he made to me when we first met. Now go! As soon as I assist goofball there, your time will be limited before Platyborg decides to attack you as well."

Narrowing her eyes, Stacy raised her swords and led the way into the room. She trusted them to do as she instructed. As far as she knew, they were all older than her and had families. So getting two kids out of danger would be like a required thing for them.

As for her…keeping Albert from trying to keep a promise he'd made to her…that would be a little harder

As soon as her swords made contact with the metal on Platyborg, the walking weapon gave another punch to Albert, causing him to limply slide to the floor, before turning its attention to her.

Now that it had become a one on one battle between her and the cyborg, Stacy's resolve faltered a little. Not only did that thing have every single weapon imaginable wired into its hard drive, it'd been fighting a lot longer than she had. Not to mention, she'd seen what remained of the few who were unlucky enough to incur the full wrath of Doofensmirtz and were doomed to a 'game' with Platyborg.

Dropping to the floor whenever Platyborg shot a laser towards her, Stacy caught glimpses of Albert.

Now that she was closer, she could see just how much abuse he'd taken. His hair was peppered with the white of mortar from the walls, his face bruised, and there was even a bit of blood trailing from his mouth from when Platyborg had hit him.

How long had he been fighting? The only other person who'd encountered Platyborg in battle and lived was Candace. And that was nearly three years ago…

Tightening her grip on the swords, she leaped forward; using the blades to reflect the lasers Platyborg shot at her.

Seeing that firing lasers alone would not work, Platyborg's attacks became more direct. The thing still shot lasers at her from time to time, it also used some kind of kung-fu attacks as well.

In all honestly, Stacy had no idea how she could dodge everything. Shooting a quick look to where the girls had been, she was relieved to find that no one was there. The rest of the unit must have gotten them out of the room.

In that moment of distraction, Platyborg managed to knock both of her swords out of her hands. She was now defenseless.

Using the attached jet-pack attached to it, Platyborg flew upwards so that it could kick her in the chest. With it's metal-encased foot. Hard.

As she hit the ground, Stacy couldn't help grabbing her side, it felt like it was on fire. Looking up, she saw the cyborg hovering with both hands morphed into lasers, pointed at her.

Just as she was sure she was about to die, a pair of nun-chucks hit Platyborg in the head.

"HEY! Plata-Fail. I'm not finished. You going to go back to your owner and tell him you couldn't beat a kid with some vision problems?"

Both Stacy and Platyborg looked in the direction the nun-chucks had come from. Albert was using the wall to help him stand up, and while the effort was clearly killing him, his expression was dead serious…and why the hell was he smiling so confidently?

The answer came in a ferocious yell.

A yell that Stacy knew all too well.

As quickly as she could, she began scooting away from Platyborg, who in the meantime was trying to blast Albert's nun-chucks as they kept ramming themselves into his head.

In another instant, the room was filled in a bright flash of light. When it finally faded and Stacy could see again, Platyborg had vanished and standing where it had been was Candace. In her hands looked like a CD case.

Still clutching her side, Stacy made her way up to her commander.

"You could have given me a little more warning before chucking that light flare stick."

Candace shrugged. "I did." Stacy rolled her eyes. "Yelling is not what I would call adequate warning. Sides, what's up with the disc."

"The reason we came here, apparently. Hirano, can you walk okay?" Stacy nodded. "Good, grab Albert, we're leaving."

Stacy sighed as she turned and walked towards Albert. He had stopped trying to stand and was now sitting against the wall.

"Hey Stace."

"Hey yourself. Albert, what were you thinking?"

"Just now?" he blinked at her expression. "Well, I thought that if I didn't do something, you'd be barbequed Stacy."

Stacy gave a small groan as she bent down to help him up. "No I mean you getting into that fight with Platyborg. And continuously throwing insults at him. Do you want to die?"

Albert snorted. "Yeah, I want to die at the metallic hands of something that can't decide if it's a beaver, a duck, or a robot. Especially since I have so much I still gotta do. Sides, if I didn't keep its anger and attention on me…who knows if Gretchen would still be okay…"

Stacy bit her lip, she wasn't sure if he'd seen the other girl. If that was Gretchen, she didn't have much hope of that kid being okay…

Albert gave a small chuckle which turned into a cough. "She'll be fine. I saw her, I know she looked pretty bad, but she's pretty darn stubborn. I mean look at me! I took a load more hits, on purpose might I add, and look at me! I can still walk."

Stacy smiled a little. How could he always tell what was on her mind and know exactly what was on her mind and know how to cheer her…

"Wait! What do you mean you took hits on purpose! And the only reason you can walk at all is because I'm helping you!"

"It's better….if I get hit and injured…than them."

Stacy paused in their walking and stared at him. He looked tired, yet there seemed to be a small bit of peace to his expression. Catching her look, he smiled. "I'd take a thousand hits for those I care about or for those who really shouldn't be caught up in all this.

Stacy stared at him a little longer before turning her face away.

"Yeah, well, you still should try dodging some hits…like you said, you still got stuff to do."

"Like that promise I still owe ya."

Stacy closed her eyes before opening them again and letting Albert go. The sound of his body hitting the ground was both disturbing and satisfying.

"Owww, Stacy. Why'd you just drop me like that?"

Stacy turned around and glared at him. "Still walk huh?" On the floor, Albert was busy trying to get himself into a standing position, and Stacy wasn't sure, but she thought she heard him mumbling something.

"I'm sorry, didn't catch that. Repeat?"

There was a small pause before Albert glanced up at her. "I only fell because you didn't give me any warning. Otherwise, I'd be walking right now. Sides, what was that just now?"

Stacy crossed her arms. "Because Albert, when you made that promise we were kids-"

"We're still kids"

"-And like I told you then, I'll tell you again, I don't need you to do that. Stay away from Platyborg and just do your job."

By this time, Albert was standing, (albeit unsteady) and had a small smirk on his face.

"But Stace, once I make a promise, I intend to keep it. No matter how long it takes, I'll make sure it's upheld"

Stacy continued to stare at him before giving a small sigh and walking away from him.

"You think you can walk? Fine, see you at base."

A/N: …I have no idea what was going on in my head during the prologue. Whatever it was, it seems in par with a horror movie; and I've never even SEEN a horror movie in my life…unless you count that Spiderman movie that came out in 2000, man I had nightmares for weeks of the green goblin crashing through my bedroom window. Shudder. Then there were those disturbing nightmares way back when…maybe I should have my head scanned. That prologue is sooo not Disney. D:

On the upside, this is my longest chapter ever. So…yay, right?


	8. Chapter 8

**DISCAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE CHARACTERS OF THE SECOND DIMENSION. THE STORY LINE YES, THEIR PERSONALITIES MAYBE, BUT THE CHARACTERS ARE FULLY AND 100% UNDER THE OWNERSHIP OF DISNEY.**

_In the instant that she was grabbed, she had dropped one of her husband's swords that she had been using. She still held one, but it was a little harder to fight back. The mass of mutated robot was holding her upside down and was shaking her as if she were a doll. But she had to fight back…she was the only one left to protect her daughter. __**THREAT OBTAINED; INITATING THREAT ELIMATION ALPAH...SELF DESTRUCT MEGA IN 10...9...**__She stared in horror at the robotic mass, it was planning to self destruct, just to eliminate her...'Mom!' hearing her daughter's voice, she looked down and saw her running towards her...and already much to close to escape an explosion unscratched...__**7**__...closing her eyes, she swung the sword above her and managed to cut the arm holding her off...as she fell, she let go of the sword, not wanting to impale her daughter...__**4**__...the landing was rough and she was sure she'd broken something, but it didn't matter, she had to get to her daughter...__**3**__...she managed to tackle her in an embrace, and looked at her for what would probably be the last time. 'If you survive this, take the swords and run, a-and know your father and I love you so very much...' __**1 SELF DESTRUCT MEGA**__**ACTIVATED**__...She closed her eyes and held her daughter one last time as intense heat surround her..._

It was kind of odd that just sitting around a table could have so much tension. It wasn't so much sitting around the table per say, but the object on it that had everyone's attention.

The object; a tattered looking cd/radio player that looked like it could burst into flame at any moment. Or at the very least, just break apart with the lightest touch.

Staring at it, (as was everyone else) Stacy couldn't help but marvel at the fact that the item could still function. Then again, Candace had Baljeet working on it for about the last twelve hours. When he'd placed it on the table a couple of minutes ago, he'd looked like he was about ready to drop from exhaustion.

The small click of the cd cover brought Stacy back to the present. Candace had the battered player in front of her as she carefully placed the disc they'd recovered from the old O.W.C.A. building. As soon as she had shut the little cover on the player she pushed the appliance away from her.

They only had to wait for a minute before anything happened.

'_**Congratulations members of the resistance. I must say I am rather impressed by your latest move. Nanites. Very clever.'**_

Stacy felt her whole body stiffen, looking around the table she could tell that most everyone else was shocked too. Well everyone except Candace. She looked angrier than usual.

'_**I must say that I'm a little disappointed in your superior, sending children who have obviously never been trained into a combat situation. Reminds me of my former employer a little. As for the nanites, not only were they of poor quality and easily traced, you have revealed to me at least one member of your resistance. At least I hope Miss Flynn is a member, otherwise you've just pulled an innocent civilian into our little conflict.**_

'_**It's not all bad though, I've decided not to tell Emperor Doofensmirtz your location just yet. I think it'd be more fun if we got to know each other a little better. It's not everyday a couple of kids decide to play with me. The next time I see Miss Flynn I'll give her a message to give to you. **_

'_**I just hope, for her sake, she knows how to find you. Otherwise, I'll have no choice but to turn her and her family in to Emperor Doofensmirtz. And who knows what kind of games he'll like to play…'**_

The player gave a small wheeze before it began to emit smoke. Obviously they weren't going to get any more information from it. Not that they needed it.

The silence in the room was broken by a small huff. "Everyone, you are dismissed, you will be notified of any future plans concerning this latest development."

Too numb to get up and leave with everyone else, Stacy simply slumped a bit into her chair. Somehow, Karl knew about those nanites. And he was using the signal to track them.

Glancing towards her friend, Stacy saw that Candace had taken out her bo staff and was glaring furiously at the now-on-fire cd player. Swiftly, in too fast a motion for Stacy to see, Candace had slammed her staff hard on the flaming machine. Shattering it and the disc inside.

In that hit, the flames billowed upwards a little causing Candace to step back a bit. Looking around the table, Stacy couldn't find anything to put the now growing fire out. Frowning a little she broadened her gaze a bit to around the room. Nothing.

Making a mental note to herself to make sure that from now on there was a jug of water placed on the table during meetings, Stacy marched towards Candace. Once she was in front of the flames, Stacy took off one of her shoes and began smacking the machine with it.

"Candace! Can you help me over here?"

Silence

"CANDACE!"

"Quilt yelling, I was taking off my boot."

"Uh-huh."

After about five minutes of hitting the machine with their boots, the flames were extinguished.

"Wow, I can't believe that worked."

"Well it did."

Stacy rolled her eyes as she and her commander put their boots back on. "Next time, Candace, I'd advise you to not hit a smoking machine."

Candace's reply was a sharp glare in her direction. Stacy gulped and held up her hands. "Or you can do whatever you want, I mean it's not like fire isn't scary or anything-Owww! Really. Hitting me with your staff? Was that really necessary?"

Candace shrugged as she stomped towards the closest door.

"Sure. Be a jerk after I just helped you put out a fire." muttered Stacy as she walked behind her towards the door, careful that there was space wide enough for a normbot to pass between them. When Candace was in one of her moods, it was best to stay out of her way.

"So what's the news-Owww. Someone's grumpy. Ow! Twice? You hit me twice?"

Picking up her pace, Stacy ran the rest of the way to the connecting hallway and found Candace and Albert glaring at each other; at least she was sure Candace was glaring, it was kind of hard to tell with the sunglasses covering half her face.

"Candace!"

Candace turned her face away from Albert's and stared at her.

"Weren't you going to devise a plan or something?" Stacy's voice faltered as Candace's glare seemed to intensify and her grip tightened on her staff. Then to her surprise, Candace seemed to deflate...

"Actually, I'll think I'll go home and increase the security levels tonight...I'll think about what our next step should be tomorrow."

Not even two minutes had passed after Candace and left before she heard a small cough beside her.

"Sooo I'm assuming things didn't go as well in there. Normally, she shots me a dark look when she passes by me. So, what happened?"

Stacy didn't answer him. She wasn't sure if she even could. He hadn't been requested to join the meeting so it would be classified from him, wouldn't it?

"Come on Stace, tell me what happened to get Candace angry enough that going for a second round with Platyborg wouldn't be so bad."

Stacy smiled a little and looked at him. He was covered in bandages; they wrapped around one of his arms and there were quite a few on his face.

Stacy looked away from him as she bit her lip a little. He had fought against Platyborg, and he appeared to have lasted awhile in the fight...maybe she could tell him. He definitely earned it...

"Well, it turns out those nanites were faulty, and K-Karl is using them to track us."

"That's sucks, but we can turn it-"

"He also suspects Candace as being in the resistance and threatened her family if she doesn't give us a message from him."

Albert was silent; gulping a little, Stacy gave a quick glance to him before staring at the opposite wall. He had his 'serious thinking' face on. The last time she'd seen him look that serious was when he'd been designing tech.

"Well, while those are both pretty bad, she's handled worse and not been as temperamental-"

"There may have been a small fire...nothing to big..."

Albert sighed beside her. "Well that explains a lot" just as Stacy was nodding her head in agreement, Albert walked past her.

"Hey! Where are you heading off to?"

Albert paused as he shot her a quick grin. "Just going to the lab to ask Baljeet about those nanites he used...I have a feeling I know what happened."

Stacy watched him continue running towards the lab. Clenching her fists a little, she ran after him. As second-in-command it was part of her job to be in the know of what was going on...and she didn't really have anything else to do.

A/N: D: Gahhh! I'm so late in posting this, meant to post this a while ago, but the prologue was giving me a bit of writers block. I know where I'm going with the main part of the story with one hundred percent accuracy, but the flashbacks...just a faint idea. Oh well, at least while writing this and during my delay, the writers block on my other story is gone...for the most part. Which is another reason I haven't updated in a while, was working on that before the dreaded writers block struck again! Next chapter should hopefully be up sometime soon...so till next time.


	9. Chapter 9

**DISCAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE CHARACTERS OF THE SECOND DIMENSION. THE STORY LINE YES, THEIR PERSONALITIES MAYBE, BUT THE CHARACTERS ARE FULLY AND 100% UNDER THE OWNERSHIP OF DISNEY.**

_She didn't want to open her eyes. She didn't want to see what remained of her mother. She didn't want to do anything, but lie there, eyes tightly closed. But...her mother's last words had been to run. Run if she survived the blast...which she was kinda sure she had. Shuddering, Stacy pushed...her mother off of her...even though it didn't feel like her. Not anymore. Turning her head away, she finally opened her eyes. Her home...looked like a warzone...the kind shown in those video games or movies she wasn't supposed to see. Like outside and the rest of her house, the walls were crawling with flames. The floor...was littered with twisted melting metal and something slick that seemed to reflect the flames, making it look like the fire was burning upside down as well as up. Warily, tiredly, Stacy stood up and scanned the floor for the swords. To her relief, they weren't too far from her and relatively close to each other. Grabbing them, Stacy looked around what used to be the living room for a clear path, found a somewhat decent one, and ran._

_She wasn't sure how much time had passed between the first robots in the park and the battle at her house, but it couldn't have been too long. Enough time couldn't have passed to make all of Danville a warzone. But it seemed like it. Cars were in buildings, houses on fire, streets empty save for an alarming amount of robots...a slipping kind of sound sounded behind her. Spinning clumsily around, Stacy struggled to hold up the swords as she watched a figure approach her._

"We should really let him sleep Albert"

Looking like he'd managed to only make it as far as the swirly chair before collapsing onto it face first, Baljeet looked pretty out of it.

"Albert?"

Turning to face him, Stacy saw amusement in his eyes.

"Yeeaah I suppose we should let the little git sleep…buuuut I need to talk to him."

And with those words, Albert marched to the chair and tipped it slightly, causing the poor kid the hit the floor kinda hard.

"I SWEAR! I DID NOT KNOW THAT COFFEE WAS YOURS!"

Albert laughed. "Relax, we're not Candace, though if I were you, I'd leave base before she finds out you drank her cup of joe."

Baljeet, scrambling to his feet and brushing off his coat shot Albert a haughty glare. "I assure you, I have no idea what you are talking about…I am much too young to drink coffee."

Albert rolled his eyes. "Sure you are. It must have been some other kid with a triangular afro I saw chugging a cup of coffee earlier. Oh wait, there's only one kid I know with a hairstyle like that."

Baljeet's eyes widened. "I-you-Candace-"

Placing a hand on Baljeet's shoulder, Stacy shot Albert a look. "If the only reason we're here is because you wanted to quarrel with Baljeet-"

"Doctor"

"What?"

"It is Doctor Baljeet."

Rolling her eyes Stacy continued "With _Doctor_ Baljeet then I'm leaving and taking you with me."

Albert's amused smile faded. "Err, sorry. Got off track there…Baljeet-"

"Doctor"

"No. I'm not a doctor; also it's rude to interrupt-"

"I am not calling_ you_ a doctor; I am insisting you refer to me with my full title."

"And I'm choosing not to."

"But-"

"Look, you're lucky I'm addressing you by your given name opposed to something else. Now, are we done with this?"

Baljeet glared at him for a few more seconds before looking away. "Fine."

"Good. Baljeet, where did you get the idea for those nanites?"

"…"

"Baljeet, it's really important that you tell me the truth right now. Where did you get the idea?"

Baljeet seemed to have found one of the buttons on his coat extremely fascinating. Just as Albert was about to ask him one more time, he finally spoke.

"I may have…looked at some of your old blueprints…"

Albert frowned. "But the only blueprints I made regarding nanites I locked away in a separate part of the main-"

"I…hacked into it."

Albert's mouth opened and closed a few times before he turned and marched up to the main computer and typed at the controls furiously.

Stacy watched him for a few moments before glancing at Baljeet again. The kid was slumped and staring at the floor.

"Why would you go through Albert's old blueprints? I thought you said his stuff was lame and out of date."

Baljeet looked up at her, shame clear in his expression. "They _are_ lame and out of date. But I did not know what else to do! Candace wanted something big and I could not think of something big enough…so I looked through his old files…found something interesting and used it for something better."

"Better?"

Baljeet nodded eagerly, pride lighting up his face. "Yes, better! Can you believe he came up with nanites but used them to better only himself? I made the nanites work for the entire resistance!"

Stacy frowned and looked back towards Albert. He was slumped against the controls, not moving. Instantly worried, Stacy moved towards him. As she came closer, she could hear Albert muttering the same word over and over again.

"Albert?"

He raised his head and looked at her almost in despair.

"Albert!"

He gave her a small smile, it was a terrible echo of his normal smile, but a smile none the less. "I know what went wrong Stace. How Karl is able to track us…it's a combination of mine and the git's idiocy."

Pushing himself up off the controls, Albert ran a hand through his hair as he stared at the computer screen.

"The problem…is the nanites themselves."

Stacy nodded and moved a little closer to him. "We know that already. So why-"

"Let me explain, the blueprints for these nanites in particular, are wrong. When I first came up with these, I wrote them wrong, used it anyway, had a few mistakes and did some editing but never changed the original blueprints. The git comes along three years later, hacks into the files I restricted specifically because they were faulty, doesn't do the math…and we get into this mess."

Stacy blinked. "So basically, you made a mistake fixed it manually, didn't bother fixing it on the written work and Baljeet comes along makes the same mistake but doesn't fix it?"

Albert nodded.

"Albert what was the mistake?"

Letting out a deep sigh, Albert spoke. "The mistake was, well it worked out for me, but for the whole of the resistance…"

"Albert, just spit it out already."

"You know my nun-chucks? How I throw them and they can stay in the air or come back to me? Well, they were my first project and the only thing I intentionally put nanites in."

"Intentionally?"

"Well, for them to do what I wanted, the nanites had to have a magnetic quality to them, you know opposites attract so I…uh, put some of those same nanites in myself but with reversed polarity."

Stacy stared at him. She just stared. What had he been thinking-

"Wait, you said there were a few mistakes."

Albert flinched. "Yeah, there were, I managed to fix the nanites in the nun-chucks, as for myself…let's just say there are a few things I'd have to avoid contact with or the results would be high levels of amount of pain…"

"How high?"

"Stace-"

"How high. If Baljeet used the same nanites you first made, then Candace should know"

Albert lowered his head "I'd equate it to be shocked with high bolts of electricity…but I don't think Candace has to worry about that."

"Why?"

"It looks like Baljeet made a couple of modifications, which I'm positive got rid of or at least decreased the pain intake…"

"But?'

"But he didn't change the polarity aspect. If we can track Karl, he can track Candace, and through her, the resistance."

Stacy's eyes widened. "Then how would we get out of this?"

Albert pushed her a little. Shooting him an annoyed glare, she saw he was smiling.

"Easy. We remove the nanites from either Karl or Candace, and I'm pretty sure she'll let us remove them if I can convince her of a turnaround plan."

Stacy raised an eyebrow.

"We should really look into whether or not those nanites affect you mood too…what are you doing?"

The computer screen which for most of the conversation had shown a blown up image of blueprints was now covered in numbers, x's and…was that a smiley face in the corner?

"I'm deleting my restricted files. If the git could hack them and get faulty blueprints for nanites, I'd rather him not have access to some of the other stuff I thought up."

Stacy stared at the screen as the smiley face began to grow, slowly covering it.

"Okay, but what's with the smiley face?"

"I thought it would be nicer then a countdown. As soon as the smiley face covers the whole screen, all my files will be deleted."

"You had enough files to cover this whole screen?"

"I watched a lot of cartoons okay?"

Rolling her eyes, Stacy turned and found herself face to face with Baljeet who was staring at the screen horrified.

"What?"

"How could he delete all of that data? Is he mad? There is so much I could have used!"

Stacy shrugged. "Yeah, well, he deems a lot of that stuff 'overly dangerous'"

A/N: For the record, I made up like sixty percent of that science-y stuff. I like the prologue better this time around.


	10. Chapter 10

**DISCAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE CHARACTERS OF THE SECOND DIMENSION. THE STORY LINE YES, THEIR PERSONALITIES MAYBE, BUT THE CHARACTERS ARE FULLY AND 100% UNDER THE OWNERSHIP OF DISNEY.**

_As the figure came closer, Stacy realized that it wasn't a zombie like that movie her cousins forced her to watch but a girl, who was probably the same age as her. The girl's hair was a bright orange and seemed to have twigs, dirt, and some grey stuff tangled in it. Her clothes were tattered and covered in so much grime that Stacy was unsure of what the dress's original colors had been. She also seemed to be in a lot of pain if the burnt piece of wood she was using as support was any indication. Lowering her swords, Stacy ran over to the girl's side. "Are you okay?" Instead of answering her question, the girl gave her a fierce glare. "Is this Danville?" Stacy blinked. "I-I guess so. I don't know if it's still Danville since a bunch of robots appeared…" her voice trailed off at the girl's downcast expression. "I-I-m too late. He got here before me…a-and probably killed them too…" Stacy bit her lip. She didn't know what to say that could possibly comfort her when suddenly a voice sounded behind her. "Are you two okay?" Turning around, Stacy saw what she supposed to be a teenager looking down at her. She couldn't see his face because of the setting sun behind him. "I'm okay, but I think she's hurt." The boy nodded as he walked past her and picked the girl up. "We should probably find some shelter for the night, I think I passed an abandoned building not too far from here. If we avoid the robots, I think we'll be okay." Still biting her lip, Stacy followed him, there really was nothing else she could do._

Stacy hadn't seen Candace this down and depressed in ages. She seemed…broken. She didn't get to her seat till the very last moment before the Goozim Roar signifying the doors to the school had been locked…to keep students in and undesirables out. Normally, Candace would be in class early, scribbling things down, going through chapters in the textbooks. Stacy had once asked her why she did that, since she hated everything about Doofensmirtz, why she was so focused and attentive during class. '_Because Hirano, to __**beat**__ the enemy, one must __**know **__the enemy. And with all the propaganda shoved down our throats here, I figure might as well use it to my advantage.'_

But she barely opened a book, let alone turned a page. Shooting Albert a look, she saw him jotting some stuff down and giving Candace an occasional thoughtful glace before going back to his notes.

Sighing, Stacy looked away from her friends and tried to focus her attention on the blank piece of paper in front of her.

It was a simple assignment; one they had to do every month or so; write a paper on how awful things had been before The Takeover, how things were 'better' now and how their existence on the planet didn't really matter.

It was mind numbing and boring but also easy since all she had to do was write the same thing every time.

After about five hours of complete boredom, the quiet ringing of a bell signifying the ten minute break for lunch sounded.

Allowing a small smile to cross her face, Stacy slid out of her chair and headed towards Candace. Her friend and commander had mostly stared at her pencil and books instead of doing anything…and if Stacy could get her up to at least her usual grumpy self, she might listen to what Albert had to say.

As soon as she caught up to her, Stacy had to slow her pace a bit so as not to pass her. It disturbed her a bit to see Candace dragging her feet and looking so…defeated.

"Hey Candace! Um, any bright ideas for today?"

Candace gave her such a tired look that Stacy instantly regretted saying anything.

Candace gave a deep sigh. "Not really Stacy; I think…he's beat us."

Stacy felt herself go cold. Candace rarely ever called her by her first name, preferring to use her last name whenever she needed to tell Stacy something, personal or resistance wise.

"He beat us because he got past the security I set up at my house and left _this_"

Candace's face, while still drained, started to regain a little more emotion as angrily, she took a piece of paper out of the pocked in her Doofendress.

Stacy carefully grabbed the paper and studied the image on it. It was what she assumed to be raindrop-like markings in a circle. In and around the circle were a bunch of scribbles that she had no clue as to what their purpose could be.

After about a minute of staring at it, she looked up at Candace confused. "…Are you saying evil mutant circus weasels broke into your home? Cuz if this is what this is an image of, I'm not sure the resistance can fight both weasels and Doofensmirtz."

Candace gave her and even more confused look. "What? NO! This is an image of a smiley face with glasses and a tongue sticking out. Where did you even get weasels?"

Stacy shrugged and stared the image again. It looked like weasels to her…

Beside her, Candace sighed. "It's not so much the face that…discourages me; it's what on the other side of the paper."

Raising an eyebrow, Stacy flipped the paper over and read the message scribbled on it. As the words sank in and it became clearer to her who wrote it, she no longer felt confident in Albert's plan. In fact, she felt numb.

As they entered the small and crowded cafeteria, Stacy caught sight of Albert. And for the first time in awhile, his over-cheerful smile didn't improve her mood in the slightest.

Never the less, she made her way towards him, making sure Candace was following her.

"First Candace, now you Stace, I'm starting to think Doofensmirtz has made a new 'glum-mood-inator' that somehow passes from person to person."

Candace's response to his light words was a dark glare in his direction. "Shut it, four-eyes"

Albert stared at her for a moment before turning his attention to Stacy. "You know, I haven't heard her call me that since I joined you guys…so what's the big thing making you two all instant glum now?"

Stacy just sighed as she handed him the piece of paper.

Taking it, Albert studied both sides before crumpling it and tossing it at Candace's head.

Instantly, Candace stiffened and gave Alvert a death glare. "Why the hell did you just crumple that up and throw it at my head?"

To Stacy's surprise, Albert grinned as he causally leaned against the wall behind him. "Ahh, there's the grumpy drill Sargent I know and annoy"

Candace's glare seemed to intensify causing Albert's grin to falter a bit. "Crumpling paper, right. Well, you two are taking it a bit too seriously."

"Excuse me if I take a double threat on my life and my family's lives 'too' seriously."

Albert's eyes widened a bit as he carefully took the paper back and reread it. "I don't get where you're getting two threats from this, I see only one."

Scowling, Candace took the paper back. Stacy noticed that as soon as Candace looked at it, all her fight went right out of there.

"It's a no-win situation. The note says to turn in the head of the resistance or my family dies but if I _do _turn myself in, they die anyway simply because I'm the resistance leader…all these years of protecting my brothers and parents…turn out to be for nothing. I really don't see how this can be turned around this time."

Albert tapped his finger on the table as he gave Candace an exasperated look. "Look C," Candace shot him a sharp look. "Fine; _Candace_ I have an idea that can get us out of this jam and to stop Karl from tracking us while we track him."

"Oh yeah? And what would that be?"

A mischievous look spread across his face. "Decoys"

A/N: Things seem to be heating up a bit, don't they?


	11. Chapter 11

**DISCAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE CHARACTERS OF THE SECOND DIMENSION. THE STORY LINE YES, THEIR PERSONALITIES MAYBE, BUT THE CHARACTERS ARE FULLY AND 100% UNDER THE OWNERSHIP OF DISNEY.**

_Stacy was amazed; the building that the boy had passed earlier and had taken them to was still in one piece and undamaged in any way. Almost irritated, the girl shoved at the boy and demanded to be put down; considering the girl had been like this the entire time the teen carried her, Stacy was surprised when he did set her down, it was gently. "Better?" The girl shot him an annoyed look as she stared at the building for a moment longer. "This is where my family got Perry…" she trailed off as her stare became a blank one. Stacy stared at the building and noticed inside it were a few animals in cages sleeping or looking around confused. The building was a pet shop. Looking back at the teen, Stacy realized with a start that he was gone. Running towards the door, she pulled at the handles but it was in vain. They were locked out, alone, in a robot-invested town that would kill them. Suddenly the door opened into the store and Stacy stumbled in. Looking up, she saw the boy looking down at her; the lights were still off in the pet shop so she still couldn't see his face. "How did you get in? The doors were locked." The boy looked away "I, uh crawled in threw an open window…come inside and get comfortable while I go get your friend." "But she's not my fri-" But the teen had already moved past her and was making his way towards the girl. Stacy stayed put for a moment before shrugging and heading into the pet shop. It didn't really matter what he thought she supposed…he had after all taken them to a safe, still standing building. _

_Running her hands along the walls, Stacy looked for a light switch, it was really dark in the pet shop, especially since it was getting dark outside as well. Finding one at last, Stacy flipped the switch and welcomed the light. With the lights on, she could pretend everything was still as it was this morning, no robots, no fires, no girls looking like they'd been dragged through a hiking trail. Just an ordinary day in Danville in a normal pet shop. A bit of movement caught her eye as she walked past a few of the cages. Turning around enough to see what had caught her attention, Stacy found herself eye to eye with a white rabbit. Casting a quick look behind her to see if the boy had come in yet, Stacy fiddled with the door to the rabbit's cage and found to her joy it was unlocked. Carefully, she opened the cage and picked up the rabbit and held it to her face. It was so soft…and warm…and…suddenly the pet shop became dark again as behind her she heard a voice behind her. " What. Are. You. Doing. With. THAT?" Fearfully, Stacy tightened her grip on the rabbit as she slowly turned around._

The rest of the school day couldn't go by fast enough. Albert wouldn't say any more about his plan until then since their ten minutes of 'lunch' (if you could call a single stale roll lunch) passed and they had to return to class. On the upside, Candace seemed a bit more alive after lunch. Not her usual writing and planning that would give anyone watching a headache, but at least she wasn't staring at her desk like a zombie.

When at last the final goozim roar echoed through the halls and the class had exited the school in an orderly fashion, Stacy sprinted over to where Candace was impatiently waiting.

In the four years Stacy had known her, she had yet to figure out how Candace got out of the school so fast.

"Hirano, any idea of how long it it'll take him to get out?"

Stacy shrugged. Albert would get out when he got out, she wasn't in charge of where he was every moment of the day. Why would Candace even think she would have any idea?

Candace scowled a little as she leaned back against the wall of the school building. "Whatever he's planning better be good or I'm personally escorting him to the goozim pit in Doofensmirtz's weird building"

Stacy gave her friend a doubtful look. "Really? You'd watch him be eaten by a goozim because his plan stinks? I know the two of you don't get along but that sounds like more of an exaggeration than you normally make when ticked"

Candace shrugged a little as she looked up a bit.

Stacy bit her lip a little. "…Wanna talk non-resistance-planning-stuff?"

"Like what?"

"I dunno, what normal teens talk about when not leading a resistance…wanna try talking about boys?"

Candace shrugged. Deciding to take that as a positive response, Stacy smiled and continued "Sooo are you crushing on any of the guys in the resistance. Or even in class?"

"No. I don't have time for that. I've got a resistance to run, a family to protect, and a dictator to take down. Maybe after…" Candace frowned a little. "You and Albert?"

Stacy blinked and felt her face grow warm a little. "What about us? We're just friends, you know that. Heck the whole resistance knows we're just friends"

"Mmhm"

"What?"

"Stace-"

"Great! You guys waited for me!"

Whatever Candace had been going to say, she wasn't going to say it now. Stacy could tell that much from her commander's now scowling expression…she'd try asking her later, it seemed important if Candace was referring to her by first name.

"Of course we waited for you, you've got that plan you wanted to tell us. Though don't tell me it now, wait till we get down to base."

Albert waited till she was a little ways ahead of them before turning to Stacy with a small grin. "Nice to see her gruff-let's get things done attitude back"

"Yeah, it kinda is."

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"Well, What exactly is this brilliant plan of yours solider?"

Albert gave her a nervous smile. "Well, you see Candace, I know how Karl's tracking us…those nanites Baljeet gave you were faulty and work two ways. As long as we can track him, he can track us through the person who gave him the nanites in the first place…you"

"Then remove them. Or deactivate them. Something. As obviously things aren't working to plan."

Albert ran a hand through his hair "That's where things get complicated. Deactivating the nanites would alert Karl that something's up and he probably send too many Normbots for us to defeat to various locations where the signal they gave off last. Removing them would cause the same result"

Candace frowned and tapped her fingers against her desk. "So what do you propose Albert? You're not giving me anymore options than Karl already has"

"We transfer them to someone else. Someone high enough to give him satisfactory information, but not enough to fully blow back up on us. And since he's known for killing resistance leaders and their families, it'd have to be someone who doesn't have much of a family to return to or even a family at all…someone like…"

"Me."

Both Candace and Albert turned to face her surprised.

"Stace-"

"You said so yourself Albert, someone who doesn't have family and high enough to give him believable information. Candace?"

All the color seemed to have gone out of her friend's face as she tore her gaze away from her to face Albert again.

"She's got a point, soldier"

"But-"

"No buts. As leader of this resistance, I make the choices. Hirano volunteered and she's got the less to lose from this if things go sour. End of story. We'll send a message to Karl tomorrow. In the meantime, I want you to transfer those blasted nanites"

**A/N Any guesses on who this mysterious teen in the flashbacks are? No? Well fine. What? Don't look at me, I'm not gonna tell you, you have to figure it out yourselves…Any ways, I for one am liking how the flashbacks and main story are going along…though it does occur to me I could have very well done a separate story for the flashbacks…ah well live and let learn. Maybe I'll end up writing one fully in the past where Stacy and Candace are kids creating the resistance…depending how far this story goes and how far along I get in flashback land…then again maybe not…hmmm :/**

**Also, if you think about it, the entire Danville of the second dimension had different architecture than the first…and when Doof-2 came to the first dimension, what were his robots doing? Throwing cars into buildings and blasting things...**

…**.Read. Review. Reviews make me happy and help me not feel like I'm a wasting my time writing when I could be wasting my time on TVTropes…ALL HAIL TVTROPES!**


	12. Chapter 12

**DISCAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE CHARACTERS OF THE SECOND DIMENSION. THE STORY LINE YES, THEIR PERSONALITIES MAYBE, BUT THE CHARACTERS ARE FULLY AND 100% UNDER THE OWNERSHIP OF DISNEY.**

"_I-I just wanted to hold something, pretend everything was normal again" She clutched the rabbit closer to her and stared up at the boy, finally able to make out some of his features despite the minimal light in the shop. He had glasses. That much she could tell, maybe some freckles…so maybe he was close to her age? A little? But he had been taller than her and the other girl and strong enough to carry the readhead… "Sorry…I don't like animals much…they scare me" Stacy wasn't sure, but she could have sworn his voice rose in pitch a little, maybe he really was scared of animals…even something as small as a rabbit. "Bad experience?" "Yeah…" "I'm sorry, I didn't know" Giving the rabbit one last hug, she carefully put it back in its cage and turned back to the boy nervously, who to her surprise seemed just as nervous. "Sorry I snapped at you, I…have a lot of stuff on my mind lately and with things going crazy today…" he gave her a small smile. "Sorry for talking your ear off, you'd probably like to be situated with your friend right?" His smile faltered "Do you want to follow me or hold my-" She didn't wait for him to finish his question, and just grabbed his hand. She wanted normalcy, comfort. She didn't know who he was but he'd helped them, and he was nice. And could maybe watch out for them. Like a brother. "That sounds like a plan…are we going to stay here for a while?" Oddly his expression froze, but it was probably from stress or something from how crazy everything had become today. "J-Just for the night. Then you and her can move on" Stacy tightened her grip "but what about you?" The teen didn't respond, just stared ahead, before sighing and giving her a wide smile. "You said you wanted normalcy right?" she gave him a small nod. "Well, when people first meet each other they introduce themselves right? And we haven't done that yet have we?" She could feel herself starting to smile again as she nodded again. "Well, my name's Carl. What's your name?"_

It was already twenty-three hundred. She was supposed to have met him an hour ago. This was the right warehouse, she hadn't entered the wrong one had she? Was this him psyching her out? Doing one of his little mind games he'd become infamous for? If he was, it was working. Or maybe it was the feeling of dread doing that to her.

Tightness of the chest, nervously shifting her weight from one foot to the other, holding the handles of her swords and ready to draw them out at a moment's notice. She may have volunteered for this, but she didn't really want to die. But if she was going down, she'd make sure to take him with her or at the very least leave him with a few wounds to remember her by.

Hearing the sound of approaching footsteps behind her, Stacy spun on her heel as she pulled her blades out and crossed them across his neck. This may have been an arranged meeting, but she wasn't going to give him a smidge of a chance to turn things in his favor too early. For all purposes, she had to put up the illusion that she was the one and only head of the Resistance. Candace wouldn't go down without a fight.

"Woah Woah Woah! Stace! It's me!"

"Some assassin or whatever you call yourself if you can't sneak up on…_Albert_?!" Angerily she lowered her swords and glared at him "What are you doing here? I nearly cut off your head!"

Albert gave her a sheepish smile "I didn't want you to do this alone?"

"Albert! That was the whole point! I'd be the one doing this _alone_ because I don't have family!"

Right before he could respond, a small object dropped between them. For a brief second, they both stared at the small metallic ball before backing as far away from it that they could. Quickly sheathing her swords, Stacy jumped up onto one of the nearby boxes, Albert close behind as they made their way up to the beams crisscrossing under the domed ceiling. Below them, they could hear the hissing of a special kind of gas escape the ball.

Over the years, the resistance learned quite a bit about those balls and the gas that came out of it from the various demises of other resistances. The gas itself was interesting. No one really knew what it's affects would be on the unfortunate soul who encountered it. Some stories said it caused a person to burst into flames upon contact, others said it drove a person to set _themselves_ on fire. Or that it killed instantly when breathed in. The tales were never consistent in what exactly the gas did to a person only that it ended in death. The only thing that _was _known about the gas was that it only rose a certain height, so the only way to escape it was to get up to a high surface and wait for it to dissipate.

As soon as they were safe, Stacy leaned against one of the vertical beams as she sighed in relief.

"So confident that you feel you can take a breather already? My, aren't _you_ a force to be reckoned with Miss Hirano."

She froze. He was here. Of course he was here, he'd been the one to drop the ball in the first place. And had he been here the whole time? Hiding above her? _Watching_ her? Straining her gaze, she looked back to where she had first been standing and raised it to the beams. She almost missed him, his dark trench coat helping him to blend in. If it hadn't been for the light reflecting off his glasses, she would have passed him by.

Eyes shining, he smirked. "Well Miss Hirano, here we are. Never thought _you'd_ be the leader of the resistance. Especially one so well-oiled." His gaze flickered to Albert for a second before returning to her. "_Mostly_ well-oiled anyway."

Slowly, she placed a hand around one of her swords handles. "He's…new."

His smirk became a grin. "I can tell. Now that we've gotten our pleasantries out of the way, let's move on to tonight's business; your death."

From there, everything seemed to happen in rush, incapable of stopping or changing direction.

Even before Albert had a chance to throw his nun-chucks at him, Karl had his blaster out and shot them out of his hand, grinning at the blonde's hiss of pain from the blast burning the side of his hand. Using the small amount of time Karl was distracted, Stacy ran and leaped across the beams between him and her. If she could take him down, then it would be one step closer to taking Doofensmirtz down, and that she hadn't been sleep deprived when she volunteered for this.

His moment of distraction had passed and he turned his attention to her, and started shooting at her. As she worked to dodge the blasts, she noticed something, nearly half of his shots were nowhere close to where she was…almost as if he was aiming behind her…a startled shout caused her to look back and she could practically feel her heart jump into her throat. Albert was struggling to stay on a beam that was starting to fall into the gas…it was already too far down for him to jump to another beam safely.

"Seems you have a tough choice to make Miss Hirano. Continue coming towards me in a futile attempt to kill or maim me, or go back and save your teammate." He smirked, "Quite a tough choice, but you are _surely_ used to making decisions like these, correct?"

She bit her lip. She wasn't actually. Candace usually made the decisions, she was more focused and a better leader in that way. Stacy mainly backed up her decisions and made sure they were followed through. But…

She turned around and ran towards to the collapsing beam. Even if she managed to beat Karl, then she would never forgive herself for having Albert pay the price for that victory. It felt like she had reached the beam in a second as she carefully leaned down on a more stable piece and outstretched her hand to him.

"Stacy!"

"Grab my hand, I'll pull you up!"

He didn't need to be told twice as he quickly grabbed her hand and helped her pull him up by climbing up the falling beam best he could before it fell entirely. But at least now he was close enough to a secure beam to grab onto and pull himself up the rest of the way to safety.

"Thanks Stace. Did you manage to get a hit on Karl or anything?"

Stacy sighed as she gazed back to where she'd seen him stand last. It was void of anyone standing there. Where had he gone? "No, I didn't even get to swing my swords at him."

"That stinks"

Just as she was about to reply, she felt herself being roughly pulled away from him and shoved against one of the vertical beams as Karl moved in front of her and kicked Albert off the beam. He just barely managed to grab the beam with one hand before falling completely off the beam.

Karl turned slightly to give her a smug look. "Wrong choice Miss Hirano, what a shame."

Turning his attention back to Albert, he sneered as he stepped on the blonde's fingers. "Do try not to hurt yourself too badly during your fall, I would feel absolutely _terrible_."

Stacy watched in horror as Albert lost his grip on the beam and fell into the gas. "Albert!"

"I almost forgot about you Miss Hirano, thank you so very much about reminding me I still haven't gotten around to dealing with you."

Before she could even move to grab her swords or even kick at him, she felt him pull her forward a little before slamming her hard against the beam behind her. Her vision blurred as he did it again, harder. She felt lightheaded, dazed. And as her vision began to fade into blackness, she felt weightless, almost like she was falling…

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Tiredly, he leaned against the beam that he had just slammed Miss Hirano's head against as he watched the supposed leader fall into the gas, more than likely landing on her boyfriend. He expected both of them to live through this little encounter, bruised of course, but still alive. They needed to be alive, he wasn't done playing with them yet. A small smile spread across his face, pain, heartbreak, hate, the eventual breakdown of the resistance from within. He could hardly wait, but he was patient, so very very patient. And the wait would just make it all that much sweeter when it happened.

But for now, he would have to wait for the gas to disperse before leaving the warehouse. Maybe even a little longer if he wanted to catch a glimpse of the real resistance leader. He smiled to himself. What a brilliant move by Miss Flynn, having her second in command take her place to throw him off. She even had the sense to transfer those nanites. Brilliant, brilliant plan.

He could play along with this for a little while. Pretend that he actually believed that Miss Hirano was the only leader…it would make things easier later. It wasn't like Doofensmirtz knew who was in what resistance. That was all part of his job.

But for now, he would wait. And prepare for the next part to his brilliant and unbeatable plan…


End file.
